Destiny 2 Into the Light Patch Notes: Buffs, Nerfs and Everything New

Destiny 2 Into the Light is a free update for players that will act as a precursor to The Final Shape which launches in June. This update brings along several sandbox changes, returning weapons and armor sets, new modes, and even new maps.

For those Guardians who plan on playing Into the Light, we’ve got you covered. Here’s all the Destiny 2 Into the Light patch notes.

Everything New in Destiny 2: Into the Light

Firstly, let’s take a look at all of the new content that will accompany Into the Light. Keep in mind that all of this content will be free for all players.

Reprised Exotic Missions

Bungie announced that they will be bringing back two beloved Exotic Missions in the form of The Whisper and Zero Hour. These remastered missions will keep the essence of the originals while also introducing new puzzles, encounters, Triumphs, secrets, and of course, new rewards as well.

By completing The Whisper, players can expect to unlock the Whisper of the Worm Sniper Rifle, while Zero Hour rewards players with the Outbreak Perfected Pulse Rifle.

New PvP Maps

With the arrival of Into the Light, there will be three new Crucible maps in the rotation. However, these maps won’t arrive until the May update.

The new maps are as follows:

• Eventide Labs (Europa)
• Cirrus Plaza (Neomuna)
• Dissonance (terraformed Pyramid ship)

According to Bungie, these maps were mainly built with a 3v3 environment in mind, so keep that in mind when you do get the chance to play them. Even though they are mainly designed for a competitive 3v3 environment, they will also still be available in 6v6 playlists like Control and Clash.

Pantheon Raid Boss Gauntlet

In the most recent Into the Light livestream, Bungie delighted fans with some new and unexpected reveals. One of which was a fresh PvE activity focused on Raid challenges, which Bungie clarified as a “Raid boss gauntlet”. According to Bungie, players will be able to confront formidable Raid bosses and engage in weekly challenges offering escalating difficulties and rewards.

More in-depth details about this activity are set to be unveiled in the upcoming edition of This Week in Destiny (TWID). Pantheon is scheduled to launch on April 30.

Character Re-Customization and Name Change

Back in January Bungie announced that character re-customization would be returning to Destiny 2 before the arrival of The Final Shape, and it looks like they kept their promise. With the release of Into the Light on April 9, Guardians will be able to modify their appearance whenever they like, with no charge or restrictions on the frequency of changes.

In addition to the character re-customization, all players will also have the opportunity for a one-time name change at no extra expense. After the Into the Light update rolls out, players will be able to access bungie.net and follow the instructions to modify their Bungie ID. And for players who missed out on the previous chance to change their name, this means that they will now have two name changes.

Destiny 2 PvP Changes

In addition to several weapon changes within the sandbox (which we will be getting to), Bungie is also making some changes “impactful changes” in terms of Crucible playlists and modes.

Competitive Playlist changes

Survival and Countdown Rush will be replaced with 3v3 Clash and the newly released Countdown mode. For Countdown, Bungie has stated that some zone placements on maps such as Dead Cliffs and Vostok will be altered based on player feedback in the last few weeks. In terms of Clash, the ammo meter system will be replaced with the ammo crate system.

For players who wonder why Bungie has opted for an ammo crate system as opposed to an ammo meter system in Clash, Bungie reiterated that based on testing, the ammo crate system encourages flow in and out of engagement zones by offering players an on-map objective. Considering that the main objective in Clash is to rack up kills, players may adopt an overly passive playstyle with the ammo meter system.

Trials of Osiris changes

Bungie has been testing out a new Special ammo economy for the past few weeks. While many players love it, Bungie has agreed to do some more testing when Trials arrives on Friday.

During the first week of Trials, Bungie will implement what they term the “unrestricted” Special ammo crate system. Essentially, this means that all four ammo crates will appear every round, with one crate spawning by each team’s spawn point and two in neutral areas. Upon death, all players will lose their Special ammo.

In the second week, Bungie will transition to a “restricted” version of the ammo crate system where only two crates will spawn each round, located by each team’s initial spawn point. In this “restricted” version, players will still lose Special ammo upon death, but they won’t drop any Special ammo bricks.

For the full detailed breakdown of all the changes coming in Destiny 2’s PvP modes, feel free to check out Bungie’s TWID article.

Destiny 2: Into the Light Weapon Balance

With the arrival of Destiny 2 Into the Light, Bungie will be bringing a plethora of changes to the existing weapon sandbox.

Here are the initial patch notes provided by the latest TWID blog:

Weapon Archetypes

Breech-Loaded Grenade Launchers

• Increased impact damage by 40%.
• This works out at roughly a 15% damage buff, though total damage varies depending on blast radius stat.
• Reduced disorienting grenade radii (both damage and disorienting) by 15%.

Lightweight Bows

• Increased lightweight Bow base damage by 6%. (Le Monarque and Wish-Ender are not affected in this change.)

Precision Auto Rifles

• Reduced base damage by 5%.

Precision Hand Cannons

• Increased base damage by 6%.

Adaptive Hand Cannons

• Increased body shot damage by 1%.
• Increased critical hit damage by 4%.

Rapid-Fire Pulse Rifle

• Increased body shot damage by 3.5%.
• Increased critical hit damage by 1%.

Lightweight Pulse Rifle

• Increased body shot damage by 6%.
• Increased critical hit damage by 3%.

Adaptive Pulse Rifle

• Increased body shot damage by 5%.
• Increased critical hit damage by 2%.

Rapid-Fire Scout Rifle

• Increased base damage by 2%.

Precision Shotgun

• Corrected a rounding issue that was causing Precision Shotguns to require one extra pellet to kill max-resilience Guardians.

Exotic Weapon Changes

Whisper of the Worm

• Increased total ammunition from 18 to 24 (before reserves mods).

One Thousand Voices

• Increased total ammunition from 7 to 11 (before reserves mods).

Quicksilver Storm

• Increased shots to trigger rockets by 50%.
• Reduced grenade area-of-effect damage vs combatants by 37.5%.

The Last Word

• Increased base damage by 6%.

Forerunner

• Increased base damage by 6%

Perks

Master of Arms (The Recluse)

• Reduced the damage bonus from 20% to 15%.

Magnificent Howl (Luna’s Howl)

• The number of Precision final blows before reloading affects the total rounds granted with increased range and damage. Precision final blows while Magnificent Howl is active extend the effect for additional rounds.

Micro-Missile (The Mountaintop)

• Redesigned this perk to be a weapon intrinsic and rebuilt it to do less direct damage vs. players, while giving it dramatically more self-physics impulse.
• Retuned its PvE damage to be competitive with other Breech-Loaded Grenade Launchers.
• Granted it a slightly increased reload speed.

Permeability

• Fixed an issue where this perk was causing the Slammer Sword to get stuck on the Strand damage type.

Crucible Only Changes

Flinch

• Reduced flinch taken by all Primary weapons by 15%.

Sunshot

• Increased Precision damage by 11%.

Wish-Ender

• Reduced base damage by 5%.

So there you have it, that’s all the Destiny 2 Into the Light patch notes and changes arriving with the April 9 update. For players wondering if they should return to Destiny 2, check out our guide on Into the Light.

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